Longtime veteran of the alternative newspaper industry and related industries, Andy Sutcliffe, has taken over as General Manager of Salt Lake City Weekly. Publisher John Saltas made the announcement to the City Weekly staff on Monday, Dec. 10, 2012.

“I’ve known Andy for at least 20 years,” said Saltas, “and I’ve come to appreciate his abilities and his AAN sensibilities. We were a TPI client, a SelectAlternatives client, and we’ve hired Andy in the past as a consultant and advisor. At a time when all of the newspaper industry is questioning itself and reorganizing, it made perfect sense to bring on a well-rounded veteran who is not only a bottom-line caretaker, but a visionary as well.”

In 1988, while working for the alternative newspaper, the Boston Phoenix, Sutcliffe pioneered the concept of moving traditional newspaper personal ads into the new concept of 1-900 pay-per-call, resulting in the formation of a new company, Tele-Publishing, Inc. (TPI). By the early 1990s, virtually every newspaper in the U.S. and Canada offered voice personals.

In 1999, he joined DesertNet, as CEO and helped transform that fledging content management company into the industry leader among AAN newspapers, with its robust CMS platform. His own company, SelectAlternatives, was among the first to venture into the online world of personals and dating.

Over the years, Sutcliffe has served in multiple capacities at numerous alt-weeklies, focused essentially on generating the revenues requisite to fulfilling his own passion for the editorial mission of alternative newspapers.

At Salt Lake City Weekly, Sutcliffe will oversee all day-to-day operations and will take over as the key point person of the further development of Salt Lake City Weekly‘s successful online consumer shopping mall, the City Weekly Store (powered by Kostizi, a spin-out company of Salt Lake City Weekly).

“I am tremendously excited to have the opportunity to work with John to further strengthen the City Weekly‘s bond with readers and local businesses. John’s ‘consumer and merchant mall’ concept has already resulted in providing significant savings to readers, driving new and recurring customers to local businesses and creating very meaningful revenues to the paper. Over the past several months, I’ve been able to get to know and work with the team of truly talented people who comprise City Weekly. Every day, the community of Salt Lake City is better informed and more engaged because of their efforts and I’m thrilled to be able to join with them.”